Drought over, Union hope for more from McInerney

Union forward Jack McInerney (9) celebrates his goal in a game earlier this year against the New England Revolution. McInerney’s goal Saturday was his first since June 1 and helped the Union gain a tie with D.C. United, (Times Staff/ERIC HARTLINE)

WASHINGTON — In the balancing act that has been the Philadelphia Union’s season, one problem appears to have been solved at RFK Stadium Saturday night. Another much large one, though, has presented itself.

First there’s the massive positive of Jack McInerney getting on the scoresheet for the first time in 15 games, a thumping, downward header off a Kleberson cross in the 90th minute to salvage for the Union a point in a 1-1 draw against D.C. United.

On a team that has just four goals in its last eight matches, any offensive contribution is greatly needed. But for a player who raced out to the lead in MLS by scoring 10 times in his first 14 games, the Union’s ability to get McInerney back in a scoring mindset is more than just a numbers game.

It also reinstates the threat posed by someone who was regarded, albeit briefly, as the league’s most deadly finisher, one who willed the Union to wins early in the season. McInerney was almost single-handedly responsible for placing the Union in playoff position early in the season, his deft finishing papering over the cracks of an attack that, in the retrospect of McInerney’s drought, has shown serious systemic deficiencies.

For the gusto with which he celebrated his goal, ripping off his shirt and sprinting to the corner flag to be rained down on by a combination of cheers of the Union’s traveling supporters and the intermittent showers, the goal’s importance to McInerney was clear.

“It’s been tough, and the longer it goes, the more frustrating it gets,” McInerney said. “Like I said, you’ve just got to keep fighting and pushing. I’ve proven that I can score, and I’ve just got to keep my head up and keep going. And once I got this one, hopefully they keep coming now.”

Beyond the 974 MLS minutes between tallies, Saturday wasn’t shaping up as McInerney’s night yet again. He wasn’t even the first forward summoned off the bench by Union manager John Hackworth, that honor going to the game-changing speed of Antoine Hoppenot at halftime in an effort to peg back Nick DeLeon’s sensational 36th-minute strike.

McInerney had been relegated to the bench for two of the last three games, lasted less than an hour his last start against Toronto and hadn’t gone the full 90 minutes since Aug. 10 against D.C. United. But Hackworth kept the faith, and his team was rewarded.

“It’s a tough decision because you want to give Jack as much time as possible, but we had taken over control of the game at that point and had been creating some chances and dictating possession,” Hackworth said of the decision to introduce McInerney in the 73rd minute. “So you take a chance right there, and you know you’re kind of going for it, and you leave yourself very vulnerable to the counterattack. But we had no choice at that point.”

“It’s great. We spent a lot of time this week after practice doing finishing drills and working on that,” said Hoppenot, who remained on the field at halftime stretching with McInerney before somewhat surprisingly being tabbed as the first sub. “It’s great to see him finally get a goal. He’s been wanting one for a while, so this is a great goal, a huge goal. And you could tell by his celebration just how happy he was to score another one for the fans and for the team.”

Part of McInerney’s early-season success was due to the 21-year-old’s level-headedness. He has a type of quiet confidence and a cold, exacting approach on the field that makes him such an adept finisher, one that evens out the highs and lows, the middle line between the national-team callups and the four-month scoring droughts.

It’s the kind of mentality that, you would think, lends itself to the avoidance of prolonged stretches of futility like the one he just shook off. But it’s also the kind of borderline cockiness on which strikers thrive, one that has McInerney thinking about how easily one goal becomes two, and so on.

“I think it makes us dangerous,” Hoppenot said. “The other teams need to beware. If Jack starts getting hot again, you saw how deadly he was in the beginning of the season. If he catches fire again, we’re going to be a very dangerous team.”

“It’s a good time right now to hopefully push into the playoffs,” he said. “You never know what can happen.”

What the Union (12-10-10, 46 points) need to happen is a little help from the rest of the Eastern Conference, a predicament they could’ve avoided with a win Saturday that would’ve taken them to third in the East. Instead, they’ll spend this week on the outside looking in at the playoff picture, tied with Montreal and Chicago for fourth but sitting sixth overall with one fewer win.

The distance to next week’s opponent Montreal could increase, with the Impact facing Los Angeles midweek for their game in hand on the rest of the conference.

It leave the Union needing McInerney and company to marshal all their confidence for a result next week in Montreal.